Good morning all! Peggy here, definitely an alcoholic, grateful to be sober.

What do I do when the thought of a drink enters my head? Do I act or react? Saturday, I was preparing for a large holiday party hosted by myself and another AA friend. Early in the morning, I was doing something in the kitchen when, out of nowhere, came the thought, "Won't it be nice when we're all finished setting up, to sit down in front of the tree with a glass of scotch?" It was truly an out-of-the-blue thought. I wasn't in a 'bad' place, in fact, I was in a great mood and feeling very centered and grounded. This situation proves what my first sponsor taught me, and it is something one finds in the Big Book and in many other places in the literature, that having the thought of taking a drink is normal for an alcoholic. What is not normal (thus, the disease) is that I can never drink normally again. I was nevertheless bothered by the thought, so I took action. I picked up the phone, called my AA friend, and said, "You'll never guess what just happened to me..." His response was, "Wait a minute..." And he went on to read me the page from the 24-hour book for that day. The part that made me shiver was something like, 'having the thought to drink will happen, but the alcoholic must know that he can never drink normally again.' Well, I could have fallen over in the kitchen! We then went on to talk about how creepy it sometimes is, that thought arising from nowhere, but how grateful we were that instead of reacting to it, there is action to be taken. In my case that morning, it was to pick up the phone. At another time, I may choose to go to a meeting, or write about it, pray about it ... whatever about it ... but I do not have to pick up over it or spend the day being a lunatic about it. I need to take corrective action when it comes to thoughts of drinking, no matter how brief or lingering they may be. Because if I don't stay on top of things like that I may miss some relapse warning signs that over time, could lead to a drink. This spills over (no pun intended) into other areas of my life as well. I don't have to react to a co-worker who's having a bad day. I don't have to react to someone else's criticism of a meeting, or of an AA member, or what someone else is doing. If I focus on what action I take as a result of situations, thoughts, or feelings I have, I will be OK. I may not feel OK at the moment, but I will be OK. Taking action instead of reacting gives me personal power that I can put to good use and keep myself in a 'safer' place if you will, so that I might not drink for just that moment or for just that day. And that is my ultimate goal, to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.

Thank you for letting me share and keeping me sober today.